Not Your Ordinary Case
by christinap
Summary: The Tony angst begins. And TATE. What more could you want? Someone wants to exact revenge on DiNozzo. ! COMPLETED !
1. Mutual Attraction

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Not even Tony, sigh. I do own this story.

A/N: This is my first NCIS fic. I'm in love with Tony, truly, madly, deeply. I guess that if I can't have him, Kate is 2nd best. I adore the Tony/Kate pairing, so I guess that makes me a TATE shipper. All the way.

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It was a cloudy, windy, dismal Washington morning, but for Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, the day was bright. He was starting another day doing something he absolutely loved. Not to mention the fact that each new day was another chance to work his charm on his gorgeous partner, Kate. She was beautiful, but for once, that was not the only thing that attracted Tony DiNozzo to her. She was also independent, clever, and spunky. She was just as good as any man when it came to her job, and Tony knew that he could always count on her to have his back. _She's in love with me,_ Tony grinned, _she just doesn't know it yet._

He popped his face over her desk. "And how is my beautiful girlfriend today?" He grinned with his usual cocky self-confidence.

"Dream on, DiNozzo. Be my guest. Your fantasy life is obviously alive and well this morning." Kate snapped back with her usual zip. She turned to her computer screen and began typing, ignoring what she expected to be Tony's comeback. When there was just silence, she whirled around in her chair to find DiNozzo's dazzling blue eyes scant inches from her own. Her breath caught in her throat. _He really has gorgeous eyes. Green eyes. You could almost lose yourself forever in those eyes._ She almost leaned in, but stopped herself. "You got a problem, DiNozzo?" she asked, her face still inches from his.

He sighed, smiled, and leaned back a little. "Nope, just flirtin'." He winked at her and strode over to his own desk, laughing to himself. Kate shook her head. "Tony, you're such a pig." She mumbled.

"Yes, he is." Gibbs said as he strode by. There was Tony again, flirting with Kate. Gibbs had a sneaking suspicion that Tony really liked Kate. He also had a suspicion that it was not all one-sided. He's seen Kate throw some side-glances at DiNozzo when she thought no one was watching.

Tony looked up. "Who is what, Boss?"

Without a pause, Gibbs continued. "You, DiNozzo, are going to go check out a case. Got a call, witness saw a sailor enter a house, heard a gunshot. Take Kate with you. McGee, you're with me, we got another case to check out. Let's go."

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Tony and Kate reached the home of the witness, far out in the suburbs, in a dingy area. The houses were small, rundown, and dingy. Kate got out of the car. The breeze was warm, it was the lovely time of year that occurs between spring and summer. The trees were green, but when the sun hit them just right, the leaves took on a golden sheen that took her breath away. Tony saw her appreciating the weather. "Feels just right for a picnic, doesn't it?" He grinned.

"You asking me, DiNozzo?" She looked at him saucily.

"I'm just telling you, you know, maybe you and I should…for lunch…I mean, it's a shame to waste such a nice day." Tony stumbled over his words. He was embarrassed with himself for stuttering a little. _I'm usually so smooth when I ask a girl out._

Kate's stomach gave a little jump. _Tony's asking me out?_ She usually tried not to notice, but her co-worker was devastatingly handsome. She'd thought about what it would be like to kiss him, on more than one occasion. Of course, she couldn't. There was Gibbs set of never-ending rules, one of which stated that there should be no dating of co-workers. _Eh, so what_, she decided.It was just lunch. _That's harmless. Right? _"Yeah, ok. Must be your lucky day, Tony. Now let's get going and interview that neighbor, see what she saw."

"She, huh? Leave it to me!"

"She's 55, DiNozzo."

"Aaaannddd…never mind."

She laughed at the wide-eyed expression on his face.

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So…what did you think of it so far? If you'd like to see more of t his story, please review! Your comments will all be greatly appreciated. There's more exciting-ness, romance, and Tony angst coming up.


	2. Investigating Gone Bad

The police officer to respond to the woman's call greeted them as they rang the woman's doorbell. "Yeah, come on in. I'm Officer Logan. My partner, Officer Taylor, is finishing up with a couple of questions for the lady who says someone was shot across the street, Mrs. Parnell." He shook his head, and continued quietly. "My partner and I checked out the house, and we didn't see a body. To tell you the truth, I don't think anything happened."

"Well, thanks guys. We'll take it from here." Kate said. She walked into the living room, where Officer Taylor was getting up to leave.

"Hello Mrs. Parnell, I'm special Agent Todd and this is Special Agent DiNozzo. Can we ask you a few questions?"

"Sure." The woman looked tired. "Can we finish before the kids get home from school? I don't want to scare 'em with all you cops here."

"I'm sure we'll be finished long before that. So, can you describe to me what you saw that made you call the police?"

"I was outside taking out the trash, and I saw this man hanging around, never seen him before. He was dressed in sailor clothes. He saw me and stopped whatever he was doing, like he didn't want me to see him or something. So I went back inside but I watched through my window, cause I wanted to see what he was up to. He went inside that old house, and maybe 5 minutes later I heard the shot."

"So that's all you saw, ma'am? No one came out of the house?" Kate asked the middle-aged woman.

"Yeah, and the gunshot came from the same house." The woman pointed to a dingy house across the street that looked as if it had been vacated for years.

"Do you know if anyone lives there?"

"All I know is, sometimes I see people going and coming sometimes. Mostly men. You wanna know what I think? It's one of them drug houses. Now, is that all your questions?"

"Yes, for the moment. Thank you for your help, ma'am. If you remember anything else," Kate pulled out her card and handed it to the woman, "just give me a call. Ok?"

Kate walked back to the car, Tony following. The police had left. She grabbed her flashlight. "Come on, Tony, let's go check it out."

They walked across the street. Kate opened the door and flipped on her flashlight. They surveyed the room. Trash everywhere. A large dingy window let in a little light. Kate scanned the walls. This house wasn't even wired for electricity. Suddenly she jumped, then screamed as a rat scuttled away from her foot, scared by her movement. Tony laughed. "You're so paranoid, Kate. It's a mouse, for crying out loud!"

"Shut up, DiNozzo," she answered, more than a little embarrassed. "I'll give you paranoid if you make fun of me again." Tony scanned the corners of the room, then located a dusty doorway. He eased the door open. It was a tiny room, no doubt once a bedroom. There was an old cot that looked as if it would tear at the slightest pressure. The floor was covered in dust, except for some footsteps, no doubt left by the two cops.

"Nothing in here but dust," he announced. There was another doorway. Tony tried the knob, and it swung open. It led into the backyard. He shut the door and walked back to the other part of the house, where Kate was still examining the walls and floor. She looked up as Tony came close.

"Look at this, Tony," she beckoned him close as she shone her light on the walls. He squinted. Small spots on the wall looked as if something had been wiped off of them. They ran all the way to the floor in a path. She shone the flashlight at the floor. A patch of the floor was not covered in dust like the rest. It too looked as if it had been wiped down recently. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Tony?"

"Blood spatter." He said. "Someone cleaned up after themselves too. It looks to me like someone was shot here, fell down against the wall, and then lay here bleeding."

Kate nodded. "That's what I thought. I'm going to call Gibbs."

"I'm going to go check around outside while you do that," Tony volunteered. "Be right back." He left.

Kate flipped open her cell phone and dialed. "Gibbs? It's Kate. I think there may have been a shooting here, but we can't find a body. Can you send a team? Ok, Tony and I will wait here." She hung up.

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Tony walked around the side of the small house, scanning the ground as he went. He turned the corner of the back yard, and heard something rustling. At the same time, out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the back door move. When he looked, everything was still. _Must have been an animal. Now who's paranoid?_ The yard was rather overgrown, weeds covered the grass patch that passed for a lawn. Tony noticed a pile of leaves, and suddenly had an idea. He knelt and pushed the leaves aside. There was an old wooden door that no doubt led to an old basement of some kind. He opened it and shone his flashlight down the hole. There at the bottom was the body of the sailor.

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Kate heard a slow creaking. It sounded like it was coming from the back room. She stood quickly, her heart pounding. She shined her light at the door. "T-Tony?" she called softly. _If he's playing some kind of ghost trick on me, so help me…_ The bedroom door burst open. A man came out, holding a gun on her. He was grungy, but tall and well muscled. "Don't move! Don't even think about screaming. If your partner comes back in, I'll kill him!" He came closer, gesturing with his pistol.

Kate tried to keep her voice steady. "Did you kill someone? I found what I think is blood spatter, and you have a gun. I'm Special Agent Todd with the NCIS, and if you tell me what happened, it will be easier on you."

He swore, and grabbed her. He moved close to the window and looked out. "Where is your damn partner? I shot that damn sailor because he tried to cheat me. He sold me a stash. I guess he thought I wouldn't find out it was fake. I always try my stuff before I buy it. He must of thought I was stupid, but when you got as many customers as I do, you can't afford to be."

Kate was trying to think fast, what could she do? _This guy has already killed one person, he won't have any trouble killing me and Tony. _Her hand inched toward her cell phone. Maybe she could dial Gibbs without this guy seeing.

But he did see. "Hands in the air, bitch! I told you I was going to kill you if you tried anything…"

An explosion of glass cut him off. A body came hurtling through the large window, landing on top of him in a rain of glass. It was Tony. He rolled off of the man. Both were bleeding from glass cuts. The man's gun went sliding towards Kate. She picked it up. "Stay down!" She yelled at the man. "Stay down and put your hands behind your back! Tony, are you ok? You're bleeding!"

Tony got up painfully and pulled out his cuffs. He cuffed the man and pulled him up. "I'm fine. But I think I cut myself." He looked down at the man. "I'm Special Agent Tony DiNozzo. You're under arrest. That means you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you can't afford one, we'll give you one. Now get up, you stupid ass."

Kate pulled the man to his feet and led him out to the car. She shoved him into the back seat. Tony walked outside and sank to the ground. He was dizzy. He reached up and touched his head. It was bleeding. Kate ran to him and knelt beside him.

"Tony, you're bleeding. Let me see." She dabbed at his forehead. "You might need stitches."

Tony moved slightly, then gasped. A sharp pain in his side. His shirt was torn. Kate saw him wince and unbuttoned his shirt. His white undershirt was bloodstained. A dirty piece of glass was lodged in his side. She looked up at him. "I'm going to pull this out, ok, Tony?" He nodded and gritted his teeth. She pulled the glass out, wincing at the knowledge that she was hurting him. He breathed in sharply from the pain. Once the glass was out, blood flowed freely from the cut. Kate ran to the car to get her bottle of water and knelt back down beside Tony.

"I'm going to clean this out a little, ok?" She asked. He nodded, lips tight. She ripped off his undershirt and flushed out the cut with her bottle. Once all the water was gone, she looked up at him.

"Thanks, Tony. You saved my life. He was going to shoot me."

"I know," he whispered. "I found the body outside, and then heard some commotion inside. I looked in the window and saw what was happening. I didn't know what to do at first, I was afraid he would hurt you."

"Well, he didn't, thanks to you."

She bunched up the shirt and handed it to him. "Keep the pressure on that, Tony. I'm going to call Gibbs."

He grasped her hand. "Wait. I want to say something." He gazed steadily into her eyes. "When I thought he might kill you, all I could think about was that I'd never done something I should have a long time ago."

"What do you mean? You don't owe me anything, Tony."

He shook his head. "No. I mean this." He leaned forward suddenly and caught her lips with his. She was startled at first. Then she melted into his kiss. So many emotions were flooding her at once, and her heart was beating so fast, she was almost dizzy. This felt so right. She fit perfectly into Tony's arms. It was like heaven.

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A/N: This is not all of the Tony angst I have promised…Muahaha!

As always, read and review if you approve! Thanks all you wonderful people who have reviewed so far, your comments are greatly appreciated!


	3. An Explanation, sort of

Kate sat down in the hospital's waiting room and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed Gibbs' cell phone number.

"Kate?" Gibbs didn't wait for her response. "How's DiNozzo?" He sounded as concerned as Kate had ever heard him.

"Well, he's getting fixed up now. The doctor said the cuts weren't serious, just deep, and he should be able to go home this evening. He may need stitches, but he'll be as good as new in no time at all."

Gibbs gave an inward sigh of relief. "Good."

"So Gibbs, what'd you find out about our attacker?"

"Well, from what McGee could give me, his name is Terence Hodges and he's a pusher with a fairly big clientele here in the city." Gibbs said.

"Have you interrogated him yet?" Kate asked. Gibbs' interrogations were...interesting. He usually got what he wanted.

"Yes, I've interrogated him, and according to him, the dead sailor, Able Seaman David Harris, is the middle man in some kind of drug smuggling ring. For some reason Harris tried to pass off some cheap powdered drug as heroin, and Hodges caught him at it. Harris says that he killed him, and searched the house, figuring that Harris hid the real stuff somewhere."

"Why didn't he take off? That seems a little…stupid."

"Well, the cops scared him off when they searched the house, but he came back to search for them again when the cops went to interview the neighbor. I don't think he heard you and DiNozzo coming until it was too late. He kept searching because that would have been a big stash, worth a couple hundred thousand dollars."

Kate was shocked. "That much?"

"Yeah. He didn't want to lose that much money, I guess, and that's when you and DiNozzo broke up his little party and unknowingly cornered him."

"So what do we know about-"

Gibbs interrupted. "About the drugs? I've got McGee on it, if he would get his ass moving. I sent him out to keep working the scene. As soon as he brings back evidence, I'll get Abby on it."

"Ok, let me know if you find anything, boss. I'm going to drop Tony off at his apartment and then I'll be in later."

Kate slipped her cell phone into her handbag with a small sigh. _Too much stress for one day…I should go check on Tony. _At the thought of him, her fingers went unconsciously to her lips as she replayed the kiss. A smile played across her face as she thought fondly of her partner. She almost wondered if the whole morning had been a dream. It just seemed very surreal. She could remember every detail. The wind gently brushing by her hair, the sunlight warming her face, and the gentle pressure of Tony's hands and arms around her. She snapped back to reality. Back to now.

She got up, stretched, and walked back to the ER. Tony was sitting on a bed, grimacing and whining. Kate saw why. A nurse was plying a needle and thread to his side. She caught his eye and gave him a mock grimace. "Aww, poor Tony," she grinned.

"Yes, poor Tony!" He exclaimed in mock outrage. "This nurse here is making even more holes in me!" The nurse raised her head to glare at him. "Aaaahhhhhh…I mean…this _nice_ nurse…is…um…helping me…in some form…I think…maybe…"

Kate laughed. "Tony, something tells me you should quite while you're ahead. I wonder what McGee will say if I tell him that you're being a such a wuss about a couple of stitches…" she teased.

He gave her a tired, oh-so-charming grin that just melted her on the spot. She walked over to him and kissed him gently on the forehead, intertwining her fingers with his.

The nurse finished up her stitching. "I'll be right back with your discharge papers, so you can leave," she said, and glared at Tony as she left.

"Tony, when will you learn not to be such a difficult patient?" She smiled fondly at him.

"Never." He hugged her softly as she ran her fingers over his strong chest. They sat there in silence, content just to be in each other's company.

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TBC…PLEASE REVIEW! Much more Tony-ness coming up…This chapter is as sappy as the romance is going to get…unless I get a lot of reviews that like sappy romance…well, you know the drill… RR!


	4. And Add Danger to the Mix

"Able Seaman David Harris, from Richmond, Virginia was found dead this morning by two NCIS agents. He was apparently killed when a drug deal he was making went bad. His alleged killer, Terence Hodges of Washington, D.C., was apprehended and put under arrest by Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo of the NCIS." Tony's picture flashed briefly on the screen. "During the course of the arrest Special Agent DiNozzo suffered various cuts and scrapes. He was treated at George Washington University Hospital and released this afternoon in good condition. On to other news-"

The television was shut off with a click of the remote control.

Damien Sande sat in silence. He was burning with anger. _Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, eh? Well, Agent DiNozzo, you've messed with the wrong man this time. You've ruined my entire operation. And you will pay._ He slammed his fist into the table.

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Dun dun DUUUNNNN! **TBC, **as long as you guys review! Thanks for the recent reviews!


	5. In which Gibbs finds out & Tony disappea

Tony gingerly lowered himself into his chair. Two days later, and his side was still sore. He looked at the stack of paperwork on his desk and sighed.

"DiNozzo."

The voice behind him startled him, and made him jump. He rolled his eyes at himself for being so jumpy. He pasted a smile on his face, and swiveled his chair around to face Gibbs.

"Something wrong? I detect an air of…reluctance about you." Gibbs raised his eyebrows threateningly. "I could always just send you home for a few more days to, you know-"

"No thanks, boss, I almost went stir-crazy as it was, cooped up in my apartment alone for a couple of days. You can only watch so many 'Happy Days' reruns before wanting to put your eyes out in an attempt to end to your misery, you know." Tony rolled his eyes at the mere memory.

"What, DiNozzo? I would have thought that laying on your ass for a few days would be your definition of happiness."

Tony snorted as Gibbs began to walk away. "I'm going to ignore that oh-so-subtle insinuation."

"By the way, DiNozzo," Gibbs turned around, "nice job out there."

Tony's mouth dropped open. _Gibbs just gave me a compliment? Compliments and Gibbs just don't go together in one sentence._ "Did anyone else hear that?" he asked.

Kate, who had been watching the whole conversation from her desk, put an innocent look on her face. "Hear what?" She asked, barely able to keep the smile off her face. "Tony, if you're hearing voices, maybe you should go in for an ear exam when you go back to get your stitches taken out." She couldn't keep her face straight anymore and laughed.

"Very funny, Kate." He pursed his lips together, cocked his head to one side, and looked at her fondly. She was so beautiful when she laughed. Her eyes sparkled as they met his. Their eyes locked. He caught his breath. _God, she is stunning._

"Umm…Kate?"

Kate looked away from Tony quickly and looked up to see Abby at her side. "Uh, yeah…I…um…what?" she asked, a little flustered.

Abby raised her eyebrows. "Well, I have reports for all of the trace I got off of the dead sailor for you."

Kate took the papers. "Ok. Thanks, Abby."

Abby leaned down and whispered. "Don't think you're getting out of it that easily. Later, you're going to tell me _everything._"

"Ok, just…don't tell anyone, Abby…especially not Gibbs. Ok?"

Abby snorted. "You think I'm _stupid_ or something? Don't worry…your secret is safe with me!"

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It was lunchtime. Tony stretched, and grimaced a little. _Ouch. Damn stitches._ He straightened all of the papers on his desk and looked up at Kate. He caught her eye. "Lunch?" he mouthed. She nodded.

Kate stood up, and announced casually, "I'm going out to lunch, anybody want to come with?"

Tony stood up. "That sounds good. I'll come with you." He picked up his jacket and put it on.

McGee looked up. "I'll go."

Tony let out his breath with a hiss. "I'm sorry McGee, but I just can't be seen with you in public…you understand. It's a matter of…reputation." He grinned, grabbed Kate's arm, and they left together.

McGee looked confused. "What's going on with those two? Something I don't know about?" He asked Abby, who was nearby.

She nodded, grinning. "They're in love! Can't you tell? They are _so _cute together. Isn't Tony dreamy?"

McGee snorted.

"What? He's HOT!" Abby exclaimed, laughing.

Gibbs' head appeared around the corner. "Just tell them to keep it out of the office, ok, Abbs? Thanks." And he was gone. Tony and Kate. Gibbs had always been aware of the sexual tension between the two. Who hadn't noticed? He'd noticed a change in Tony since he'd fallen for Kate. Not a big change, but a change nonetheless. He'd been less flighty, less airheaded, and had become a little more responsible. This was a good thing. He was actually kind of pleased that they'd gotten together. They were both like son and daughter to him.

As Gibbs walked away, Abby clapped her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. "Oops!"

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After lunch, Tony and Kate walked down the sidewalk side by side, stealing glances at one another and holding hands, almost shyly. Kate was the first one to break the silence. "Tony, can I ask you something?"

He looked sideways at her. "Sure. Shoot."

She fumbled with her words, as if they were something she couldn't quite manage to spit out. "Would you say…I mean, do you think…do you think I'm attractive?"

He looked at her in surprise. "What? What would make you ask that? Of course I think you're attractive!"

She hastened to explain. "I mean, you used to flirt with any pretty face you saw, but you never flirted with me, or asked me out. Why?"

He stopped walking, and pulled her in front of him. "Do you want to know why? It's because you are so beautiful, so smart, so sexy, so incredible, that I never thought you would ever want to be with someone like me. I think I've been in love with you since I really got to know you. And you know what that tells me? Your looks are not the reason I fell in love with you…even though you are beautiful, don't get me wrong…I fell in love with you because you are smart, strong, and you make me feel alive inside. I love you for everything you are, Caitlin Todd." He leaned down, drew her to him, and kissed her softly but passionately, in the middle of the sidewalk. It was a kiss that made her lips tingle and her stomach quiver, but it was also a kiss that made her feel so completely loved. When they finally broke apart, she whispered into his neck contentedly, "I love you too."

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Tony unlocked the door to his somewhat lavish, somewhat messy apartment. He put his keys on the table, sorted through his mail. His fingers brushed fondly across a picture of himself and Kate that had been taken a month or so ago. When they were just friends. He smiled as he thought of the kiss they'd shared earlier. The feelings that were taking him over slowly were unlike anything he'd ever felt before, for anyone. He was gladly drowning in her, welcoming the rush of emotions that left him feeling so alive. _She is so beautiful…_

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the man behind him until a rag was shoved over his mouth and nose, and the liquid fumes sent him spiraling into black nothingness…

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Haha, the angst begins! Thanks for all the reviews. They motive me to write more quickly, so I thank all of you. Please continue to R and R!


	6. Come Save Me

"What do you mean, you _can't?_ Why? Busy, my ass. I'll have you know that I have complete jurisdiction over this case, and if you don't cooperate with my investigation I'll have you in court for obstruction. I don't care if you _are_ a detective. It was you and your fellow genius who missed all the signs of murder at the scene. You, who couldn't find the body that my partner found after less than 10 minutes on the scene, and _you _who missed the fact that the suspect was still at the scene when you cleared it for us. My partner and I could have been killed because of your crappy investigating. Yeah, well, _same to you!_"

Kate slammed the phone down in frustration.

"What was that about, Agent Todd?"

Kate turned around to see Gibbs behind her. His eyes were unreadable. _Shit. I'm in trouble,_ Kate thought. "I was talking to one of the detectives who was at the scene of the drug murder. He was being uncooperative. He and his partner came back after our little incident there and did a little poking around. They bagged some things at the crime scene that I'd like to have Abby look at."

Gibbs nodded, pulled out his cell, and flipped it open. He made a quick call, uttered a few terse words into the phone. He flipped the phone closed. "Your evidence is on its way, Kate. Let me know if you find anything."

As he walked away, Kate looked after him with eyes wide. _How the hell does he do that?_

Gibbs rounded the corner, and then popped his head back around. "Kate, call DiNozzo, and tell him that if he isn't here in less than 30 minutes, his ass is fired. Ok? You do have his phone number, don't you?" He said with raised eyebrows.

He popped back out of sight. Kate stared at where his head had been, with a suspicious look on her face. _He doesn't know, does he? No…he couldn't. Abby is the only one who knows…She better not have spilled anything. _Kate looked over at Tony's desk. He wasn't there. She'd just figured he was in the lab, bugging Abby, or the morgue, bothering Ducky again. If he really wasn't here yet, he was really late. She dialed his house. _"You've reached Chez DiNozzo. Leave one at the beep."_ She hung up and dialed his cell. _Ring…ring…ring…ring. "Hey! This is Tony. Leave me a message." Beep. _"Tony, it's me. Gibbs said you'd better get in to work now, or he's firing you. Call me when you get this, ok?"

She hung up, determining to give Tony a talking to in matters of punctuality when he did show up.

She picked up the trace reports that Abby had given her yesterday from the dead sailor's body, determined to finish looking through them. She'd gone through a few trace reports so far, but nothing out of the ordinary had shown up. The next trace report listed Palmitic Acid, Triethanolamine, Stearic Acid, Sorbitol, Isopentane, Propylene Glycol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Diaszolidinyl Urea, Methyylparaben, Hydroxypropylcellulose, and Tocopheryl Acetate. Kate's head swam simply trying to decipher the words that made up the description of the complex chemical compound. She read the printout of the final analysis. _Shaving gel. Great. Our vic was clean-shaven. Tell me something I don't know. _She analyzed more printouts. Nothing…nothing…nothing…and then she saw something that made her pause. Even the translation of this chemical compound had a complicated name. "Diacetylmorphine…what the heck is that?" She turned to her computer and googled it. She clicked the top link. "Diacetylmorphine…otherwise known as Heroin. Heroin?" Here at last was a trace of the mysterious drug cache that no one had been able to find at the scene. Kate got up and went to the lab to find Abby.

As usual, the metal was blaring, practically making the walls shake. Abby was bent over a sample in her high powered microscope. Kate turned down the music enough to make conversation hearable. In other words, all the way down. Abby looked up. "Aww, Kate, it was just getting to the best part of the song."

"I'm sorry, I'll see if I can get McGee in here to scratch some sheet metal with spoons for you. That make a song, if not as loud, at least equally as bad." Kate said snarkily.

In spite of the insult to her music, Abby laughed. "Funny, Kate. Did you have something for me?"

Kat nodded. "Yeah. Remember those trace reports you gave me yesterday? Well, I was wondering if you could maybe run some more tests on the heroin you found, see if there is anything else it can tell us. Maybe where it was from, that kind of thing."

"Sure, Kate. I'll get started on that as soon as I can. Now, turn my stereo back on!"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Tony became aware of the pounding in his head before anything else. _What the hell happened?_ He groggily opened his eyes. Too fast. His vision swam and he grew dizzier. _Did I hit my head or something?_ The last thing he could remember was letting himself into his apartment. After that…nothing. He looked around. He was definitely not in his apartment. This place was dingy, damp, and if he was not mistaken, smelled slightly fishy. He tried to move. It was no use. His hands were tied in front of him. He tried to inspect the knot in the dim lighting. It looked as if had been tied by a professional. But Tony had not taken NCIS training for nothing. He began to work at the knot with his teeth. Slowly but surely, the knot began to give way. The adrenaline rushing through his body suddenly made him dizzy again.

"I wouldn't be doing that if I were you, Agent DiNozzo." The voice above him made him look up suddenly. He hadn't noticed the figure approaching in the dim lighting.

"Who are you and what do you want with me? And how did you know my name?" Despite Tony's best efforts, his voice shook a little.

The man laughed. "You'll find out soon enough."

"If you're after a ransom or something, you can forget about it. My parents would never pay it." Tony said. He scrutinized the man in front of him. He was tall, dark, and someone Tony would have guessed was a stereotypical Mafia hit man.

"Ransom? Hardly. I'm not after money. What I'm after, Agent DiNozzo, is something more inherent. I'm after…revenge."

Tony was uncertain as to what he meant. "What do you mean, revenge? Did I do something to you? Arrest you once?"

The man grew irritated. "You ask too many questions, Agent DiNozzo. However, I think you should know why you are going to die slowly and painfully."

Tony's heart was pounding. "Nobody has to die. You could just let me go now and I won't tell anyone. No one has to know anything. Be smart. You have no idea who you're messing with. If you kill me, I have friends who will hunt you down and make _your_ death slow and painful." _Please God, let Kate and Gibbs find me._

"I think you are a little too sure of yourself, Agent DiNozzo. One of the reasons you will die." The man was slowly walking back and forth in front of Tony. Suddenly he turned to face him. Tony gasped as the man's steel-toed boot caught him in the side, right where his stitches were. Pain shot through him and he was sure he felt one of his ribs give way.

"Do you remember ruining me, Agent DiNozzo?"

Tony could only gasp for air, and shook his head slightly. The man continued. "Stop playing stupid. It does not become you." Another kick left Tony in pain once again. He wanted to ask him to stop, but Tony refused to give this asshole the satisfaction of hearing him ask for anything. "Think back to three days ago. What happened three days ago, Agent DiNozzo?"

Suddenly it clicked. The drug deal.

The man saw the understanding on his face. "Yes, I see you remember. Your actions that day are costing me millions as we speak. Because of you, my men and I must lie low for quite some time. Who knows what the man that you captured will spill to the police about my operation. It may be months before I am able to restart my business."

"Business?" Tony scoffed. "Don't you mean drug ring?" He feared that he had once again incited the man to anger, and anticipated another kick with gritted teeth. But the man kept control over his anger this time.

"Perhaps. But nonetheless, you have ruined what is mine. And you will pay." He turned and pulled out a cell phone, dialed, and spoke shortly. A large metal door creaked open and another man slipped inside. He approached them. "Enrique, watch our friend, Agent DiNozzo. Make sure that he doesn't do anything he will regret. I will be back soon to take care of him once and for all."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

**TBC.**

Please continue to read and review! Thanks to everyone for your encouraging words!


	7. Empty

Kate was growing more and more worried. Tony knew better than to just not show up to work. _Somethingis wrong. It has to be_. She couldn't concentrate on the reports any longer. Gibbs walked by. "Hey Gibbs, can I ask you a favor?"

He walked up to her desk and leaned over it. "Yeah? What?" he asked.

Kate spoke frankly. "I'm worried about Tony, Gibbs. It's not like him to just not come in to work. And he's not answering his cell. Would it be ok if I went over to his apartment…just to check on him and make sure he's ok? I just—I have this feeling that I can't get rid of. I think something's wrong."

Gibbs rolled his eyes slightly. "Ok. But if you see him there, and he's not dead or deathly ill, just laying on his ass doing nothing, you tell him he's fired. Ok? And I want you back here within an hour. Probie can't work this case all by his lonesome."

Kate was up and had her coat on before he finished. "Thanks boss." She grabbed her keys and hurried out.

She knew how to get toTony's apartment. She'd made the drive only two days ago.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoO

_Knock, knock. Tony opened the door. "Hey, Beautiful!" he exclaimed. That familiar million-dollar grin lit up his face. "And you brought Chinese. God, I've found the perfect woman!" He swept her into his arms and kissed her. She laughed and pulled away. "Tony, you're going to spill the food!" _

_After they ate they settled down on the couch to watch a movie. Kate had brought over "Sweet Home Alabama." Tony groaned when she popped it into the DVD player._

"_Shut up, Tony," Kate laughed. "You know you secretly love this movie!"_

_Tony rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "I'll watch it, but you'd better think of something good to make it up to me! And next time we'll watch a real movie, like James Bond. Or Indiana Jones!" _

_She laughed and cuddled close to him, laying her head on his chest as the movie began. "Hush, Tony. It's starting."_

_Towards the end of the movie he felt her breathing deepen. She'd fallen asleep. He picked up the remote, trying not to wake her with his movement, and shut off the movie. In the darkness he laid his head on top of hers gently and closed his eyes. He couldn't ever remember being as happy as he was as this moment._

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Kate stood in front of his apartment door, knocking. Louder and louder. There was no answer. _Kate, you're just being paranoid. Tony is going to laugh at you when he finds out._ Frustrated, she tried the doorknob. To her surprise, it swung open. "Tony?" she called. Only silence greeted her as she stepped into the apartment. She walked further into the apartment.

"Tony? Hello? Anybody home?" She called. She walked over to the table in the foyer. His keys lay there, next to some papers. _If his keys are here, then he must be here. _But she heard nothing. No movement, no television, no radio. Just silence. She quickly moved into the living room. Nothing. No one in the kitchen. No one in the bedroom. No one in the bathroom.

The apartment was empty. _Don't panic, Kate, he's fine. I'm going to kill him when I find out he's just playing some joke on us. _She returned to the entrance. _His keys are still here, though. Something's wrong._

She picked up one of the pieces of paper that had handwriting on it. She couldn't get over the uncomfortable feeling that she was snooping in Tony's private life. They' weren't yet to that point in their relationship where she felt comfortable examining things in his apartment.

She read the paper. "I've left to sort a few things out. Personal things. Don't look for me. Tony DiNozzo." She read out loud. _This doesn't sound like Tony at all. _She rifled through the other papers there, found a grocery list. She held the two pieces of paper up together. Even to her untrained eyes, the handwriting on the two looked drastically different. She set the piece of paper down quickly, hurried to the kitchen, and came back with some Ziploc bags. She slid the piece of paper into one of them, andflipped open her cell phone.

"Gibbs? It's Kate. I…I don't know exactly how to say this…But I think someone's taken Tony. He's gone, but his keys are still here. No, I haven't checked the parking garage yet. There's a note, but I don't think it's Tony's handwriting. No, nothing else is out of place…it just doesn't seem right, Gibbs. I just have a feeling about this…Intuition, Gibbs, it's called intuition. Wait—" her eyes caught the white handkerchief lying on the floor. She took a pen from her purse and gently lifted the cloth. It was dried out and slightly crusty, as if it had been soaked with a liquid. She brought it close to her and sniffed. It had a slightly sweet smell to it. "Chloroform. Gibbs, I'm positive he's been taken…Ok, I'll wait for you here." She hung up. Help was on the way. _Please let us find him…fast._

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**TBC…**sorry this chapter was a little shorter…Let the reviews commence! R and R, please!

I'd like to thank all of you who've reviewed so far, namely **angeleyes, angels122, Wolf Jade, WBH21C, leggy9591, TATE foreva, ladc, Lorency, shirik, devil3567, cheezmunky, Kbandy, Florence1, Sydney Bristow, highonscifi, tinkoo, Silent Cobra, SHIRI, xobabygurlxo, LillyRush, Warrior of the Shadown, Jennifer Paris Morgan, ballymay, grim001us, starryeyes10, RT4ever, Arodloverus2001, Anonymous 327, weing1, angelbird12241, Tami, Shannon, and gotmilk. Thank you all again!**


	8. Pain and Perseverance

Kate stood in front of the lab window, waiting on the results of the many tests Abby was running on the new pieces of evidence. Gibbs himself had searched the rest of Tony's apartment thoroughly, up and down, leaving nothing unturned. No other signs of struggle were apparent, other than the chloroformed rag that Kate had found. Now, only the lab evidence could tell them if Tony had been taken. And if he had been taken, hopefully it could tell them where to look. Kate turned when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Gibbs.

"Good instinct today, Kate." Gibbs said. "Tony is lucky he had you looking out for him. You know, in cases like this, the sooner the disappearance is discovered, the sooner the missing person is found."

She spoke up sharply. "Tony is not just any missing person, Gibbs. He's one of us. He's…he's my…" She stopped and a tear ran down her cheek. "I should probably tell you this before it gets out. Tony and I…we were…I love him, Gibbs. I can't lose him."

He stopped her. "I know about that, Kate. And I promise you, if it's the last thing I do, I'll find him and bring him back."

She looked at him in shock. "How did you know about us? I mean, we barely knew, ourselves."

He smiled. "You should know, Kate, I always know what goes on in my office. I mean, what kind of supervisor would I be if I couldn't see what everyone else in this office already knows?"

She smiled, even as another tear crawled slowly down her cheek. "It was that apparent?" She shook her head. "I just—I need for him to be ok, Gibbs."

He gripped her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "He will be, Kate. I mean, we're talking about DiNozzo here. He can take care of himself. I guarantee you that." He tried to sound reasonable, but in his own mind, he was distressed. One of his best agents was missing. He'd never admitted it to anyone, but despite his rough manner with them, his agents were the most important thing to him. He'd been trained in the Marine to take care of his men, and it was something that was deeply ingrained in him. And now he'd failed. One of his agents was out there, possibly hurt or in trouble. He reassured Kate with his words in an attempt to reassure himself. "He'll be ok."

She nodded. "I know."

OoOoOoOoOoOooOoOoOoOo

Tony kept an eye on Enrique as the guard sat in a beat up metal folding chair. Every so often he would look away or start to nod off, and Tony used these moments to continue loosening his bonds.

Now that his eyes were more focused and more adjusted to the darkness, Tony could make out his surroundings. He was in a large, rusty boathouse, full of ropes and other gear. A huge transport boat was in one side of it, and there was a dingy door on the far side. Closed, maybe locked. The air smelled like a mix of fish and salt, and he could hear the water lapping on the sides of the shed.

He kept working secretively on the bonds, and they finally were loosened to the point where they would come off if he gave them a good tug. He kept the rope wrapped around his hands, so that when Enrique looked at him, he would see nothing out of order. Now all he had to do was wait for an opportunity to reach down and untie his legs. Tony had no idea how he would get out of here, if and when he did free himself. All he knew was, if he stayed where he was, he would die. The man who had orchestrated his capture would have no qualms about killing Tony in cold blood. In fact, that was his intent.

His opportunity came sooner than expected when Enrique's cell phone rang. As the guard answered it, he stood and turned away from Tony, so that his conversation could not be overheard.

Tony leaned forward, and as he did so, sharp pain shot through his torso as his cracked ribs grated together on themselves. He barely kept the cry of pain from escaping his lips. His shirt was crusted with dried blood from where the brutal kick had torn out his stitches. He gritted his teeth and stretched forward once more, straining against the pain. His tired fingers finally found the rough rope around his ankles, and they worked quickly on the tight knot. Little by little he edged the rope loose. However, he kept it looped loosely for effect. Satisfied that it would give way the moment he would kick it loose, he leaned back.

Enrique hung up the cell phone, and before he could sit down again, Tony called out to him.

"Hey you! Come here."

Enrique turned toward him and walked closer, his eyes disdainful, and his gun in his hand. "You scream for help and I will shoot you."

"I just want some water."

Enrique laughed. "Water? No. Here's what you can have instead." He swung his foot toward Tony's side, to deliver a kick. But it never landed. Tony grabbed his foot, and with a move that would have made his college judo instructor proud, he used the man's momentum to flip him over on his back. Enrique landed on the cement with a dull thud, the breath knocked out of him.

But the gun was still in his grasp.

Tony threw the ropes aside and flung himself on top of the man, reaching for the gun. Enrique, though stunned for a moment, tightened his grasp on the gun and tried to knock Tony off of him. They strained, each trying to gain the upper hand, both equally matched in strength. Tony started to fell himself slipping, weakening from the pain that shot through him with every movement, every strain of his muscle, and he began to slacken his hold, giving up. Suddenly Kate's face went through his head. _Don't give up now, DiNozzo. She'll kick your ass if anything happens to you._ A shot of adrenaline coursed throughout Tony's body, giving him renewed strength, strength that would have done more than one man proud. And slowly he began to gain the upper hand in this deadly struggle for power.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**TBC!**

Sorry for the once-again-short chappy, but I figure you guys would rather have a couple of short ones a week than wait a week or longer for one good-sized chappy. Guys, I have been on a roll lately with this story! I've already got some of the next chapter done! All of this aside, please read and review!

Perseverance


	9. Fade To Black

The three special agents sat at their desks, each pretending to work, but all of them were too distracted to do anything but worry and wait impatiently for Abby to finish with the evidence that she was working on in the lab. Kate was tapping her pen on her desk loudly. It was driving McGee crazy, and he briefly thought about saying something about it to her, but one look at her distressed face stopped him.

"Guys!" Abby's voice came through loudly on the monitor and startled all of them. "Guys, come here! I've got something for you!"

Kate, McGee, and Gibbs hurried to the lab. They crowded around Abby, eagerly awaiting the evidence that might very well send them on their way to finding their missing teammate. "What is it, Abby?" Gibbs asked impatiently, voicing what the rest of the team was thinking.

"Well, I'll start with the bad news. I found no fingerprints that shouldn't have been there, so that means the intruder was wearing gloves." Abby said.

She picked up the rag with her gloved hands. "This was used to incapacitate someone, and the DNA from the epithelials I pulled off matched Tony. So I think it's safe to say someone probably waited for him at his house, knocked him out with this stuff, and then took him."

Abby set the rag down and picked up the good-bye note. "Now first, I analyzed the handwriting and compared it to the sample of Tony's handwriting that you gave me. The handwriting was not a match, although I think anyone with eyes could see that that was the case before I even compared the two samples under the magnifier. After I determined that, I checked out the paper that it was written on to see if that could give us any leads."

Abby slid the piece of paper under the projector and hit the zoom button. "Now for the good news. We got lucky, because this paper, well, it isn't any of your ordinary, run-of-the-mill Office Depot supply paper. It's pretty high quality stuff, and pretty distinct. Now," she zoomed in close and pointed, "if you look closely here, you can see a very faint watermark. It's a design. A circle of olive leaves, inside of which are the letters C and F. I scanned it, and as it turns out, the design is registered, and the letters stand for the name Cesario Figueroa. At first, I thought it might be someone's name—you know, kind of like personalized stationary for some mega-rich dude. But I did a little bit of research and discovered that Cesario Figueroa is actually a paper distribution company. In Columbia, South America. And before you ask, no, they don't distribute or ship to the United States. So someone had to have picked this stuff up in Columbia."

Abby's next discovery must have been good, because the lab tech was now almost bouncing up and down in excitement. Everyone was up to this point silent, just trying to process all of the information that was flying at them, except for Gibbs. "Can you get to the point, Abbs?" he asked quietly.

"Sure, Gibbs." She continued. "After I found out about that, something hit me. I remembered a test I ran the other day. I followed my hunch and re-tested that trace of heroin that we found on our victim." She slid the sample under the microscope projector. "As it turns out, this particular strain is grown in Columbia, the same country our piece of paper is from. Now, that might just be a coincidence, but I have a few more things to show you that lead me to believe otherwise. Now you can draw your own conclusions, but I think Tony's disappearance has something to do with that drug bust he made a few days ago. Because, see, the drug that our sailor tried to pass of on that psycho tripping drug dealer was methadone, it's way cheaper and has less of a kick. If you ask me, the sailor was the middle man, going behind his boss' back and trying to double the take and make a few bucks on the side by selling this heroin look-alike as the real stuff."

Gibbs nodded. "It's beginning to look that way, Abbs. Do you have anything else for us?"

She nodded excitedly. "The best is yet to come. I was double-checking my tests, running them all again, and I found a few more epithelials on the rag. Since the intruder was wearing gloves, this rag must have rubbed against his wrist or something. Honestly, I don't know how I missed them the first time around. I think the stress is getting to me. Anyway, I ran the DNA through the Combined DNA Index System Database and got a hit. The DNA belonged to one Enrique Murietta, who was arrested and convicted in 1997 for attempted rape. He did a few years in the slammer and got out on good behavior. I did a little digging and found out that he is now employed by a Damien Sande. Here's where it gets really good. Mr. Sande runs a shipping business out of the Port of Cartagena in Columbia. I'd be willing to wager that Mr. Sande's cargo is of the illegal variety. As in illegal narcotics."

Gibbs was on his cell phone in an instant. "Get me a chopper now!" His voice was authoritative, and he spoke with that rare "mess-with-me-and-I'll-have-your-balls" tone that let you know he was deadly serious. He looked at Abby. "Where does that shipping business dock, Abbs?"

"Baltimore."

"Come on guys, we're going to Baltimore. We can be there in about 15 minutes." Gibbs turned quickly to Abby and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Good work, Abby."

She yelled at them as they left. "Let me know what happens, ok guys?"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The struggle seemed interminable to Tony. It seemed as if it went on for hours, when in reality, mere minutes were passing. His arms ached and sweat dripped off of his forehead. But with pure desperation spurring him on, the struggle began to go his way. He finally managed to wrestle the gun out of Enrique's hands, and he leapt to his feet, panting heavily and staggering a little from pain and exhaustion. His hands trembled as he held the gun on the guard.

"Don't—move." Tony warned tersely. He motioned with the gun. "Put your hands behind your head and lay still. Now!" As Enrique obey with a look of pure hatred, Tony began to back away towards the door on the other side of the boat shed. He feared he was running out of time. He was right.

Tony heard the noise behind him and didn't turn until it was too late. An explosion met him. The impact of the bullet knocked him backward a little bit, and it felt as if someone had hit him in the side with a hammer. His gun hit the ground first, slipping out of his suddenly limp fingers and hitting the cement with a sharp clatter. He looked down at his shirt, and strangely, wasn't surprised to see the red stain beginning to spread. His legs suddenly refused to hold him up any longer, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to support himself.

Damien Sande approached his nemesis, lowering his gun, its barrel still hot. Tony looked up weakly and tried to focus on the man who had shot him, but his eyes were slightly dim and there was a roaring in his ears.

"So, Agent DiNozzo," he addressed his prone captive, "I leave you for only a couple of hours and this is what happens. I fear I have underestimated your skills. But no more. You have made me use my gun, and someone may have heard. Therefore, I must leave as soon as possible. But not before I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have put a bullet in your brain."

Tony closed his eyes and waited for the explosion that would send him into darkness forever. A gunshot shattered the air. Tony wondered why he hadn't felt the impact of the bullet hitting his head. _So am I dead?_ But the pain was still there. He heard yelling and opened his eyes painfully. He saw Sande above him, clutching a bleeding wrist. He turned his head slightly and saw a familiar face coming towards them, gun outstretched.

It was Gibbs, holding his gun on Sande. He was yelling at him, fury and desperation evident in his voice and demeanor. "Give me an excuse, any excuse, you bastard, and I'll send you straight to hell without a second thought!"

Tony saw Kate come in, followed by a tactical team. The SWAT team quickly took over Sande and Enrique, handcuffing them. The acrid smell of gunpowder from the two shots that had been fired hit Tony, and he coughed weakly.

"Kate! He's alive!" Gibbs called, and he and Kate were at Tony's side in a second.

Tony looked up and saw her face leaning close to his. "Oh my God, Tony!" She was crying. He tried to tell her not to cry, but his lips refused to form the words.

"We need an ambulance! Get one here now!" Gibbs harsh yell cut through the fog that was beginning to envelop Tony. A dizzying pain shot through him as Gibbs pushed down on his chest, trying to stem the flow of blood that was quickly escaping his body and pooling beneath him. He cried out in pain. It was a sound so agonized that Gibbs winced to hear it. "I'm sorry, Tony," Gibbs whispered. "Help is coming. Stay with us."

Kate was at his side, gripping his hand tightly. Tony's eyes began to flutter as the pain began to overtake him. "Stay with me, Tony," Kate cried ferociously in his ear. "Don't you dare leave me, DiNozzo!"

Her beautiful, tear-stained face was the last thing he saw before the darkness swept him up and carried him into unconsciousness.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

TBC… 

R and R!


	10. Interminable Waiting

Caitlin Todd sat in the Baltimore Mercy Medical Center's Emergency Department waiting room. She had been sitting there for over an hour. Waiting. But she couldn't fall asleep. Her brain was in overdrive, her heart was thumping, and she was trying to calm herself down. _Don't jump to conclusions, Kate. Tony's always telling me not to, and I need to listen to him this time. He'll be fine. He has to be fine. I **need** him to be fine. _

The clock on the wall ticked loudly, with maddening slowness that exacerbated her already pounding headache. The past hour seemed as if it had been an interminable lifetime.

McGee tried to offer to get her something from the vending machine, but she waved him away.

McGee sat down next to her, trying to fill the grating silence awkwardly. "I would not want to be the one that Gibbs is interrogating right now. Did you see his face? Man, I thought he was going to rip the guy's head off and then shove it down his throat." He shook his head. "You know, Kate, I don't think I've ever seen Gibbs that way. I can't even imagine what he would have done if Tony had actually…I mean…" he stumbled awkwardly, as Kate gave him an angry glance, warning him not to say what he had been thinking, "well, I mean…"

"That's really not helping here, McGee." The words came out much harsher than she intended it to. She regretted snapping at McGee, but didn't feel like apologizing at the moment.

He looked around nervously. "Do you want some coffee? Good. I could sure use some." Without waiting for her answer, he took off to find the coffee and get out of the room.

Kate sighed. She hadn't meant to be harsh with him. Her nerves were on edge, waiting to find out how the surgery was going. This was the second time in less than a week that she'd had to sit in a hospital because the man she loved was injured. Only this time, it was much more serious.

She closed her eyes as the scene from only a couple of hours before played through her mind for the umpteenth time. She had burst into the boathouse, and when she had seen Tony lying in a pool of blood, her heart had frozen painfully in her chest. The horror of watching the man she loved lying on the cold concrete with the life flowing out of him more and more with each second still haunted her. The realization that he had been alive hadn't brought her any excitement, because he had been, and still was, at death's door. Tears threatened, and then welled up in her eyes, as Kate tried to push those traumatic memories out of her mind. Her cell phone rang, and wiping the tears away, she answered.

"Kate?" It was Gibbs. "How's Tony?" The paramedics had assured him that there was nothing he could do for Tony in the next 2 hours, and never being one who was good at waiting, he'd gone with the Baltimore PD to the station to interrogate Sande.

She shook her head. "I don't know, Gibbs, he's still in surgery. They haven't told me anything yet." Another tear slipped down her cheek.

"Well, I'm on my way. Call me if anything comes up."

"I will, Gibbs. Um…how did the interrogation go?" When her words were met with a pause, she asked, "Gibbs, you didn't do anything to Sande that you're going to regret, did you? Gibbs?"

He chuckled, humorlessly. "Well, yeah, but I'll be damned if I regret it. But I can guarantee that son of a bitch Sande is going to be doing some regretting of his own for the next week or so. Don't worry, Kate, because after what that bastard did to DiNozzo, no cop in the state would lift a finger for that guy. He's lucky he doesn't get worse. Remember, Tony used to work here in Baltimore with these guys not so long ago." His voice had risen and Kate could hear the cold fury that was underlying his words. Gibbs was harsh with them at times, but if someone hurt one of his agents, all holds were off. He would never rest until retribution had been paid. It was the one thing he took as seriously as his job.

Kate was about to reply, but a nurse popped her head in the door and signaled to get Kate's attention. "Hold on, Gibbs," she said, getting up and going over to the doorway.

"Special Agent Todd? Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo is out of surgery. Let me take you to the doctor, he'll be able to inform you about Agent DiNozzo's condition."

"Ok, sure." Kate followed the nurse, her heart pumping furiously. She shook hands with the short bespectacled man, who the nurse introduced as Doctor Reese, as if on autopilot. She didn't say a word, just waited breathlessly so as not to interrupt or distract the doctor from passing on the information that she was awaiting.

"Well, Agent Todd, Agent DiNozzo survived the emergency surgery. That was the touchy part. He should be able to recover fully, but I'll be able to make a better prognosis in the next twenty-four hours. Agent DiNozzo has, however, sustained some pretty serious injuries. The bullet hit him in the right side of his chest, puncturing a lung and breaking two ribs, while three more ribs were broken and cracked from blunt force trauma. When the paramedics brought him in, he was beginning to suffer from hypervolemic shock, but we gave him a blood transfusion. My main concern right now is how the residual effects of the chloroform will affect him. Chloroform poisoning in his current state could be fatal, but for now, it looks as if it may not affect him too badly. He's on a respirator to take the pressure off of his lung, so when you go in, don't let all of the tubes scare you."

It was a lot to take in all at once. But it sounded like Tony, might, just maybe, be ok.

Doctor Reese continued. "Now, he also hit his head pretty hard on the concrete floor when he fell, so he's in a coma."

"How bad is it? Do you know when he'll wake up?" Kate asked tentatively.

The doctor shook his head. "It's impossible to say, really. The trauma is not very extensive, so I fully expect it to be temporary. Are the two of you close?"

Confused by the question for a moment, she looked at him quizzically, and then nodded her head. "We're, um…we're dating." It was her first real admission of the true nature of their relationship, but it came out easier than she expected, and damn it, it felt good to say it. It made her feel so much closer to him, something she needed desperately at this moment. "I love him," she whispered.

The doctor continued on, explaining. "It may help him to wake up sooner if he hears the voice of someone close to him. Talk to him, read to him, whatever, just let him hear your voice. You can go in and sit with him. If you need anything, the nurse can help."

Kate nodded. "Thank you, Doctor Reese."

He smiled compassionately. "He'll make it, with someone like you to be there for him when he comes back. He's a lucky guy." He gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and left.

Kate sighed in relief as she raised the phone to her ear. "Gibbs? Did you hear all of that? Tony made it through the surgery."

"Yep. I'm on my way."

"I'll be here when you get here, Gibbs. Room 235. Bye."

She hung up and walked to the room door. Stood in the window watching her partner, lying still on the hospital bed, hooked up with machines that were blinking and beeping with an annoying regularity.

It was painful to see him like this. Just yesterday, Tony had been his devilishly handsome, full of life, loveable, enthusiastic, and incorrigible self. Today, he lay still, pale, expressionless, and unmoving, as if life itself had abandoned him. She tried to steel herself emotionally, and turned the door handle.

She walked into the room, her steps tentative and quiet. She sat down in the red chair that was beside his bed. Reaching forward, she brushed the mussed hair back from his face. She cleared her throat, in a subconscious attempt to break the silence. "Hey, Tony," she spoke quietly, "it's Kate."

She picked up his hand and held it between her own. She sat for a while and just watched his chest rise and fall, while the ventilator attached to him noisily announced each breath with a regularity that gave her comfort.

She began to speak to him, talking about what they'd do when he got out of the hospital. She talked about the movies they would watch together. The restaurants they would visit. The picnics they would plan. She closed her eyes, leaned forward, and rested her head in the crook of Tony's neck. She kept talking, letting her imagination take over.

Anything to keep from breaking down. Anything to keep her heart from breaking at watching Tony lying so helpless and pale on the bed.

By the time Gibbs walked in, she was fast asleep with her head on Tony's shoulder. He smiled, an unusual expression of fondness touching his features. It had been an emotional, exhausting day for all of them. He let her sleep.

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TBC… 

Sorry it's been a little while since the last update,… busy midterms week and all that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter…read and review!


	11. A Sparkling Thing and A Question

**A/N: I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but I wanted it to be perfect. Thanks for faithfully reviewing my story! I hope you all enjoy this 11th and final chapter. It's been a pleasure. **

**Chrissy**

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Ever so slowly, Tony's consciousness began to creep back. The first thing he became aware of was the stiffness that enveloped his entire body. There was a noise, a beeping. He made an attempt to groan, but then he became aware of a pressure on his chest. Something that pushed in and out, in and out, making his chest burn with pain every time it pushed. _What the hell is happening to me? Where am I? _He started to panic, tried to open his eyes, and heard the beeping increase in speed.

Then he caught a scent that was familiar and intoxicating all at once. He recognized it instantly. _Kate._ He relaxed. If she was here, everything must be fine.

He opened his eyes slowly. They almost felt as though they had weights on the lids, they were so heavy. He blinked a couple of times to clear the haze in front of his vision. _Where am I?_ There were machines everywhere, blinking and beeping. Worse, there were tubes coming from his throat. His gag reflex started to kick in and his eyes started to burn from the stinging in his throat. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to calm down and the burning slowly stopped.

There was Kate. She had her head rested on his shoulder, fast asleep. Her face was so beautiful when she slept. He looked at her, and knew in that moment that he wanted to wake up to this woman every day for the rest of his life. Nothing on this earth could make him happier than that. He reached down and gently squeezed her hand. Kate moaned and stretched slightly before opening her eyes. She looked confused for a moment, then recognition dawned in her eyes.

"Tony! Oh God, you're awake! Wait…" she hit the nurse call button. "Don't try to talk until they take your respirator out, ok?"

He nodded and squeezed her hand again. She gently squeezed back, grateful to have him back.

The nurse entered. "Hello, Agent DiNozzo. I'm Nurse Ivans. I'm going to remove your respirator for you. Exhale for me."

Tony coughed, making his sore ribs ache as the nurse guided the respirator out. Kate gave him a cup of water with a straw to help wet his parched throat.

"Easy, Tony, you're going to be ok," she whispered, holding his head up as he drank. When he'd finished drinking, he settled back against the pillows. "So, what happened?" Tony asked, his voice scratchy. "The last thing I remember is getting myself shot, and seeing you." He grimaced as he settled back down on the bed painfully.

She sat back down in the red chair. "Well, you have Abby to thank for finding you. She really did a great job putting together all of the evidence. I'll let her tell you all about that, though. I wouldn't want to steal any of her thunder. She wouldn't talk to me for weeks."

Tony chuckled, albeit weakly. "Can you imagine Abby not talking? I wouldn't say she wouldn't talk to you for weeks. I'd give her 20 minutes silent, max."

Kate smiled. "Probably so. Anyway, she did a great job. She told us exactly where we could find you. And then Gibbs called for a helicopter—"

"A helicopter? For me? Did I gett to ride in it? Probie is going to be so jealous!" Tony's familiar grin stretched from ear to ear.

"Yes, Tony, you got to ride in it. You were airlifted to he hospital. Not much good riding in it if you don't even remember it now, is it?" Kate laughed, trying to get the memory of the ride out of her head. The memory of her, holding Tony's hand in the helicopter, willing him to stay alive as they flew to the hospital. But he was fine now. Or at least, he was going to be fine. "You went into surgery, and well, you know the rest."

Tony's eyes fluttered tiredly. "How long have I been out? Is there anything wrong with me? Well, anything other than this bullet hole in my side, that is? And this sore throat from that damned respirator." he said dryly.

She nodded. "You have some broken ribs and a punctured lung. You know what that means, don't you, Tony? You're going to be taking it _very _easy for quite a while." He raised his eyebrows mischievously at her.

"I mean it, Tony! You'd better be very good, or I'm gonna get all Special Agent on your ass!"

He laughed at her. "Come here, you." She leaned in to him until their noses almost touched. "Kiss me," he whispered. She gently placed her lips over his and savored his warmth.

"Guess you're feeling better, DiNozzo." A voice behind them said dryly. Kate turned. It was Gibbs, two cups of coffee in hand.

"Hey, Boss!" Tony said cheerily.

Gibbs handed up cup of coffee to Kate. "Kate, you've been in here for 27 hours and45 minutes. Go get something to eat for dinner. I'll stay with Tony. You look terrible."

"Well thanks, Gibbs," Kate said sarcastically, "you know, you sure have a way with the ladies." She gathered her messy brown locks into a ponytail and got up. "Fine. I'll be back soon, Tony."

After making sure she was out of the room, Tony addressed Gibbs. "Hey, boss? I have a favor to ask you."

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Kate returned quickly, having quickly eaten a sandwich from the hospital cafeteria. When she entered the room, Gibbs had gone already, and Tony lay sleeping soundly. Kate suddenly worried that she'd worn him out with the conversation, but then she thought better of it. _The more he sleeps, the faster he'll recover._ She sat down and settled in for the long wait.

The next thing she knew, Gibbs was shaking her awake. "Good morning, Kate."

She yawned. "Good morning. How's Tony?"

"Tony's doing better." The voice came from the hospital bed.

Gibbs cleared his throat. "I'm going to go get some breakfast. Want anything, anyone?"

"I wanna know when they're going to let me out of this damn place! I'm already sick of being here." Tony complained, his throat still scratchy.

"I'll take that as a no." Gibbs left quickly, the door swinging shut behind him.

"Kate, get me _out_ of here!" Tony whined, giving Kate a look with his green eyes that would have melted the will of someone less adamant than Kate.

"Good morning to you too, Tony," Kate said, "and if you try to move one finger to get out of that bed, I'll make sure you stay in this place for a _month._ And I mean it."

Tony laughed fondly and pulled her close to the side of his bed. "You're bossy."

She squeezed his hand. "Tony, what am I going to do with you?"

"Well…" he picked up a small box from his bedside table, "...you could marry me." Tony opened the box and held it out. A dazzling square cut diamond shone forth from its ornate platinum setting.

Kate was speechless.

Tony hurried to explain. "It's an antique. Itwas my grandmother's. I had Gibbs bring it from my apartment. I know this isn't a romantic proposal, coming from a laid up guy in a hospital bed. I mean, I can't even get down on one knee! You don't have to say yes now. I mean, I know we haven't been dating very long, but we've known each other for a while now, and we could have a long engagement if you want. I just—I've never felt this way about anyone. I know that's cheesy, but it's how I feel about you. I want to wake up with you beside me every morning. I want you for the rest of my life. I love you, Kate. I know it might seem like we're rushing things, but—" He was rambling, badly. She thought it was the most adorable thing she'd ever seen.

"Tony." She reached out and put her fingers on his lips, effectively hushing him. She leaned close. "Yes."

Relief watched over his face quickly. He smiled, pulled the ring from the box, and slid it over her slender left ring finger that she held out. The he grinned cockily. "I knew you'd say yes."

"Cute, Tony," she said, pulling him into a kiss that bound them together. Earth and time disappeared and there was nothing and no one but the two of them.

Outside, Gibbs watched with a slight upturn of his mouth. He was happy for them. Abby came up to him, offering him a cup of coffee. She turned to see what Gibbs was looking at, and did a double take. Her eyes opened wide in shock. "Gibbs—did what I think happened just actually happen?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, I'm not sure what you think just happened—" Gibbs began jokingly. Abby smacked his arm. He looked injured. "Ok, ok. Tony just proposed to Kate. And from the looks of things, I would venture a guess that she said yes." He grinned at the look on Abby's face.

Abby squealed, jumping up and down a couple of times. Gibbs, pretending to be annoyed, put his hands over his ears. Abby sighed contentedly. "Look, Gibbs, aren't they so cute?" She put her arm on his shoulder and rested her head on it. Gibbs looked down in surprise, then slowly smiled. He put his arm around her.

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I want to thank everyone who reviewed my story! Please let me know if you've enjoyed this last chapter! **Jennifer Paris Morgan,** I threw in a GABBY shot at the very end just for you! I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks to **gotmilk, shiri, Shannon,****Tami, angelbird12241, weing1, Anonymous 327, ArodLoverus2001, warrior of the shadow, RT4ever, devil3567, Silent Cobra, starryeyes10, grim001us, xobabygurlxo, ballymay, Wolf Jade, Jennifer Paris Morgan, StrawberryBlondeHazelEyes, WBH21C, LillyRush, highonscifi, Sydney Bristow, TATE foreva, kbandy, tinkoo, Fans, cheezmunkey, shirik, Florence1, belgianbabe2974, angeleyes, angels122, leggy9591, ladc, Lorency, jtbwriter, Mo, stonedtoad, freitazal, Dreamy-Orion, frostfalcon, jewelbaby, Dragula, EquestrianBabe, Patty, and WiseDreamer. Thanks!**


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